Moulded articles



Oct. 8, 1963 J. c. MQNICOL MOULDED ARTICLES Filed Aug. 15, 1960 UnitedStates Patent Office Patented Oct. 8, 1963 3,106,508 MOULDED ARTICLESJohn {Sharks McNicol, 12 Stafford Drive, Broxbourne, England Filed Aug.15, 1960, Ser. No. 49,799 Claims priority, application Great BritainAug. 25, 1959 Claims. (Cl. 162-103) This invention relates to themanufacture of articles from fibrous material and is more particularly,but not exclusively, concerned with the production of a fibrous preform.It is well known to manufiacture articles from fibrous material byproducing a deposit of the fibrous material onto a suitably shaped mouldimmersed in a bath of aqueous slurry of the fibrous material. Brieflyspeaking, the method involves strongly agitating a bath of the slurry sothat the fibrous material is 'well distributed throughout the bath andso that the material is prevented frorn settling out of the water in thebath, and sucking the slurry towards the mould thereby to form a layerof fibrous material on the mould. After the desired thickness of thelayer has been achieved, the mould, plus the layer is raised above thesunface of the bath, and the layer is removed from the mould for furthertreatment. When it is desired to secure attachments to the body thusmoulded it has been the usual practice to se cure these attachments bythe use of adhesives or by mechanical devices such as rivets, staples,clips or the like which devices penetrate the moulded article. It willbe appreciated that when an element is secured by means of an adhesive,the connection is essentially a surface fastening as it is only at theregions of contact between the adhesive and the moulded body and theadhesive and the attachment that adhesion can be produced.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a transverse sectional view of a molded body made inaccordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing a modified form of thebody shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but showing a modified form of thebody shown in FIG. 1.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided amethod of connecting to la moulded body an anchorage for mechanicalsecuring means, comprising incorporating an insert in the fibrous bodywhilst the latter is being moulded, which insert acts as the anchorage.For a better understanding of the invention one constructional formthereof will now be described in greater detail in relation to theaccompanying drawing.

In this constructional torm the article 1 to be moulded is produced inthe conventional manner upon a mould 2 which has the desired shape. Atthose locations where it is desired to provide a fixing attachment 3,the mould wall is apertured as at 4 to receive a hollow upstanding tube5. The tube 5 has an outwardly directed peripheral collar 6 locatedintermediate of the end thereof. When the tube engages the mould thecollar bears against the outer surface of the wire screen 7, which isconventionally provided on the outer surface of the mould so that oneportion of the tube enters the mould wall, whilst the remainder of thetube, projects from the mould. A hollow cylindrical plug, or insert 8,which is a close sliding fit on the tube is mounted on the remainder ofthe tube 5. The external diameter of the collar on th tube is less thanthe external diameter of the plug. The insert or plug is covered by veryopen mesh metal wire gauze screen 9 the latter being in effect acylindrical member closed at its uppermost end and open at its lowermostend. The lowermost end oi the wire screen is opened out to provide anoutwardly directed peripheral flange 10. When the mould and the meshcovered plug 8 are immersed in the aqueous solution of the fibrousmaterial and suction is applied to the interior of the mould the fibresare sucked towards the mould thereby to deposit themselves on the outersurface of the mould, and on the wire screen surrounding the plug. Thefibrous material deposits itself around the walls of the upstanding plugand on the upper end thereof. In addition it has been found that thereis a general thickening of the thickness of the material deposited onthe plug in the region where the tube engages the mould. This thickeningextends over an annular area in the vicinity of the plug or insertthereby providing a stronger anchorage tor the insert. After the desiredamount of material has been deposited upon the mould the mould isremoved rfrom the fibrous bath before subsequent treatment such asdrying etc. The wire screen surrounding the insert provides areinforcement for the plug. The completed fixing attachment 3 includesthe fiber-covered plug 8 and screen 9.

If desired, as shown in FIG. 2, the plug may be a solid cylinder, andalternatively the plug could have a shaped exterior surface and can bemade of any material suitable for mechanical attachment. The plug itselfcan also contain an additional insert to assist in the mounting of theattachments, such as for example a threaded tube 11, as shown in FIG. 3.

What I claim is:

1. A method of connecting to a moulded body an anchorage for amechanical securing means, comprising the steps of introducing a tubemember into a suction mould, so that a part of the tube member projectsfrom the mould surface, placing an insert on the tube memlber, placing atubular screen member over the insert so that the inner end of thescreen member is adjacent to a wire mesh screen previously positioned onthe mould, and causing moulding material to deposit on the mould and onthe tubular screen member to form the moulded body.

2. A method as claimed in claim -1, wherein the insert is in the form ofa hollow tube.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein an additional insert isintroduced into the hollow tube.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein an additional insert isintroduced into the hollow tube, the additional insert having a threadedportion.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the insent is solid.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS779,548 Kiefer Jan. 10, 1905 868,277- Kneuper Oct. 15, 1907 1,865,152Stuart June 28, 1932 2,045,546 Chaplin June 23, 1936 2,624,417 BrennanJan. 6, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 454,402 Canada Febfl, 1949

1. A METHOD OF CONNECTING TO A MOULDED BODY AN ANCHORAGE FOR AMECHANICAL SECURING MEANS, COMPRISING THE STEPS OF INTRODUCING A TUBEMEMBER INTO A SUCTION MOULD, SO THAT A PART OF THE TUBE MEMBER PROJECTSFROM THE MOULD SURFACE, PLACING AN INSERT ON THE TUBE MEMBER, PLACING ATUBULAR SCREEN MEMBER OVER THE INSERT SO THAT THE INNER END OF THESCREEN MEMBER IS ADJACENT TO A WIRE MESH SCREEN PREVIOUSLY POSITIONED ONTHE MOULD, AND CAUSING MOULDING MATERIAL TO DEPOSIT ON THE MOULD AND ONTHE TUBULAR SCREEN MEMBER TO FORM THE MOULDED BODY.